Arc welding method

Abstract

A method for controlling an arc welding equipment ( 21 ) used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter value, comprising the steps of determining said at least one welding parameter while using a theoretical model ( 24 ) of the welding process associated with the welding operation, and controlling the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by using said at least one welding parameter for adjusting the welding equipment and a device comprising an arc welding equipment ( 21 ) used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter and an arrangement ( 22 ) for controlling the operation of the arc welding equipment, said control arrangement including a means ( 23 ) adapted to determine the value of said at least one welding parameter while using a theoretical model ( 24 ) of the welding process, and a member ( 25 ) adapted to control the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by using said at least one welding parameter value for adjusting the welding equipment.

1 . A method for controlling an arc welding equipment used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter value, comprising: 
 determining said at least one welding parameter value while using a theoretical model of the welding process associated with the welding operation,    controlling the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by using said at least one welding parameter value for adjusting the welding equipment,    dividing the welding process into at least two separate parts, of which at least one part represents the arc or a portion thereof, in the theoretical model,    representing each of said at least two welding process parts and the welding parameter/parameters associated therewith by a model component,    putting the model components and a model power source in an electric circuit model, and    calculating at least one electric circuit model parameter value related to said at least one welding parameter from the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       2 . A method for simulating an arc welding process, comprising: 
 inputting data into a theoretical model representing the welding process,    determining at least one welding parameter value of the welding process while using the theoretical model and the data input, with the purpose to simulate the welding process,    dividing the welding process into at least two separate parts, of which at least one part represents the arc or a portion thereof, in the theoretical model,    representing each of said at least two welding process parts and the welding parameter/parameters associated therewith by a model component,    putting the model components and a model power source in an electric circuit model, and    calculating at least one electric circuit model parameter value related to said at least one welding parameter from the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       3 . A method for predicting the quality of a weld obtained from an arc welding operation, comprising: 
 inputting data into a theoretical model representing the welding process associated with the welding operation,    determining at least one property of the weld related to at least one welding parameter of the welding process while using the theoretical model and the data input,    dividing the welding process into at least two separate parts, of which at least one part represents the arc or a portion thereof, in the theoretical model,    representing each of said at least two welding process parts and the welding parameter/parameters associated therewith by a model component,    putting the model components and a model power source in an electric circuit model, and    calculating at least one electric circuit model parameter value related to said at least one welding parameter, and related to said at least one property of the weld, from the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       4 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       5 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       6 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model, and/or    dividing the welding process so that the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       7 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the arc region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       8 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 determining said model component representing the arc region part by means of information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc column region part of the welding process.    
   
   
       9 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 determining said model component representing the arc region part by means of information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process.    
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 4 , further comprising 
 dividing the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process into a first zone nearest to the wire and a second zone nearest to the arc column for describing the properties of the zones through different physical submodels.    
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 determining said model component representing the arc region part by means of information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process.    
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 5 , further comprising: 
 dividing the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process into a first zone nearest to the work piece and a second zone nearest to the arc column for describing the properties of the zones through different physical submodels.    
   
   
       13 . The method according to  claim 7 , further comprising: 
 determining said model component representing the arc region part by means of said physical model describing the arc by at least one equation independent of the extension in space of the arc.    
   
   
       14 . The method according to  claim 13 , further comprising: 
 determining said model component representing the arc region part by means of said physical model describing the arc by said at least one equation only dependent on the time.    
   
   
       15 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the arc column region part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       16 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the wire part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       17 . The method according to  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 dividing the welding process so that the work piece part of the welding process is separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.    
   
   
       18 . A device comprising an arc welding equipment used in a welding operation and adjustable by varying at least one welding parameter and an arrangement for controlling the operation of the arc welding equipment, said control arrangement including a means adapted to determine the value of said at least one welding parameter while using a theoretical model of the welding process, and a member adapted to control the operation of the welding equipment and the welding process associated therewith by using said at least one welding parameter value for adjusting the welding equipment, wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model comprising at least two separate parts, of which at least one part represents the arc or a portion thereof, corresponding to different parts of the welding process, each model part being represented by a model component, said model components together with a model power source being included in an electric circuit model and that said means is adapted to calculate at least one electric circuit model parameter value related to said at least one welding parameter from the electric circuit model for said control by said member.  
   
   
       19 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       20 . The device according to  claim 17 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       21 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model and/or the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       22 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       23 . The device according to  claim 22 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc column region part of the welding process to be used in determining said model component representing the arc region part.  
   
   
       24 . The device according to  claim 22 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process to be used in determining said model component representing the arc region part.  
   
   
       25 . The device according to  claim 19 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc-wire interaction region part of the welding process divided into a first zone nearest to the wire and a second zone nearest to the arc column for describing the properties of the zones through different physical submodels.  
   
   
       26 . The device according to  claim 22 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having information obtained through calculations from a physical model of the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process to be used in determining said model component representing the arc region part.  
   
   
       27 . The device according to  claim 20 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc-work piece interaction region part of the welding process divided into a first zone nearest to the work piece and a second zone nearest to the arc column for describing the properties of the zones through different physical submodels.  
   
   
       28 . The device according to  claim 22 , wherein the means is adapted to use said model component determined by means of said physical model describing the arc by at least one equation independent of the extension in space of the arc.  
   
   
       29 . The device according to  claim 28 , wherein the means is adapted to use said model component determined by means of said physical model describing the arc by said at least one equation only dependent on the time.  
   
   
       30 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the arc column region part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       31 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the wire part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       32 . The device according to  claim 18 , wherein the means is adapted to use said theoretical model having the work piece part of the welding process separately represented by one of said model components in the electric circuit model.  
   
   
       33 . A use of a method according to  claim 2 , for predicting the metal droplet formation in an arc welding operation for a given set of welding parameters.  
   
   
       34 . A use of a method according to  claim 2 , for predicting the metal transfer mode in an arc welding operation for a given set of welding parameters.  
   
   
       35 . A use of a method according to  claim 1 , for calculating at least one welding parameter value required for obtaining a particular metal transfer mode in a welding operation.  
   
   
       36 . A use of a method according to  claim 1 , for calculating at least one default setting value to be used for adjusting an automatic arc welding equipment prior to welding.  
   
   
       37 . A computer program product for operating a method according to  claim 1 .  
   
   
       38 . A computer program product comprising code means and/or software code portions for enabling a processor to perform the steps of  claim 1 .  
   
   
       39 . A computer program product for operating a device according to  claim 18 .  
   
   
       40 . A computer program product according to  claim 37 , provided at least partially through a network such as the Internet.  
   
   
       41 . A computer readable medium containing a computer program product according to  claim 37.